Chapter 386 - Don't Mess With The Wus

Halia decided to quickly pop by home and update Trisha; this information was too important to delay. But, just as she was about to stand up, Avaleigh suddenly gasped, "What's this?!"

Halia and Jackson lifted their heads and looked at the woman in surprise.

Avaleigh glanced at the couple awkwardly as she held onto her phone. "Sorry, I just saw something surprising," she apologized.

"What's wrong?" Halia asked with genuine concern when she saw Avaleigh's expression.

"I posted a photo of our dinner online and people are suddenly congratulating me on my pregnancy..." she said with confusion. Of course, apart from congratulatory messages, there was also a lot of scolding. Just as she was scratching her head and wondering what was going on, Danson suddenly sent her a link and told her to look at it.

"This article was posted 3 hours ago," his message read.

Avaleigh clicked into the link and was immediately shocked by the huge headline: 'Gold Digger 101: Ex-idol Falls Pregnant Before Marriage!'

Attached to the article were photos from that morning of her and Emerson shopping for baby items, as well as photos from the previous 'misunderstanding' that she had with Emerson on the metro. The paparazzi claimed that she was a scheming, calculative person that had been planning to latch onto Emerson from the first time she met him and that the last scandal they shared was simply covered up with lies. He even wrote that he witnessed Avaleigh with morning sickness during breakfast!

Halia walked around, looked at the article as well, and raised an eyebrow. She didn't know Avaleigh that well, but from the sincerity that she showed that day, she was certain that she was not a bad person. Plus, she trusted Emerson's judgment.

"Avaleigh had a minor case of food poisoning from Shanghai," Emerson quickly explained, hoping that his brother and sister-in-law wouldn't misunderstand as well. He then pulled out a bag from underneath the dining table and handed it to Halia, "Avaleigh insisted on getting a gift for your baby this morning so we did a bit of shopping. We didn't expect a paparazzi to be following us."

Halia accepted the gift and looked at Avaleigh with guilt. She had been misunderstood because she was shopping for her and, on top of that, she was busy preparing for dinner all day even though she was sick. "You did all this even though you were feeling unwell?"

Avaleigh forced a smile on her face, "I feel perfectly fine."

Halia frowned. Messing with Avaleigh meant they were messing with Emerson. Messing with Emerson meant they were messing with Jackson. And, messing with Jackson meant they were messing with her!

"Don't worry, I will make sure to repay your gift. I'll be right back," Halia said as she stood up and stepped outside.

Avaleigh looked at Halia worriedly. "What is she doing?" she asked Jackson softly.

Jackson smirked and glanced at his wife, "Showing the paparazzi not to mess with the Wus..."

Avaleigh looked at Emerson questioningly and he reassured her not to worry, "Eat. Your sister-in-law has your back."

Avaleigh didn't quite understand, but she did as told and started eating as she stared at the door.

Over in Halia and Jackson's apartment, Halia rushed into her secret office and immediately contacted Trisha. "Did you discover something new?" Trisha asked as soon as she picked up.

Halia smirked. This woman was starting to read her mind. "Amun's in Fez, Morocco," she replied.

Trisha nodded her head, "I'll speak to Boginya about it again and see if I can get anything from her."

Halia agreed, "I also suggest that we send Hummingbird to Morocco since she hasn't found anything in Israel and she isn't too far away. Perhaps, she'll find something in Morocco instead."

"OK, we can speak to her after this," Trisha replied. "If that's all..."

Just as Trisha was about to hang up, Halia suddenly added, "One more thing..."

"I would like to ask for Oliver's help with a private matter..."

...

Meanwhile, in Beijing.

Sasquatch tiptoed across the grounds of the orphanage he had just snuck into. The sun had already set by this time and it was cold outside, so everyone was indoors and no one saw him. The orphanage was fairly big with multiple buildings surrounding a grassy field in the middle. At this time of night, the lights were off in most of the buildings, but one particular building was shining brightly amidst the darkness.

Sasquatch followed the light like a moth to a lightbulb and finally realized it was the dining hall. That's right! It was dinner time!

Sasquatch rubbed his stomach and it grumbled a little; he didn't even notice that he hadn't had dinner yet.

He peered in through a window and saw three long dining tables, fully seated with children of various ages. They were laughing and talking to each other as they waited for their dinner to be served.

A moment later, the kitchen door flew open and a woman walked out carrying a tray with a few plates of food on top. She smiled sweetly at the children and said, "We are having spaghetti bolognese today!"

The children clapped and cheered as the woman began to place the plates in front of them.

Sasquatch looked at the woman carefully and was surprised to discover that - it was Lotus Li!

Was this the same cold and arrogant woman that he met in the morning? 

He was so shocked that he could barely even close his mouth. But, he quickly snapped out of his daze and reminded himself what he was there for. He focused his eyes on the woman's hands to see if there were any cuts. For some reason, he was certain she would have them earlier, but he wasn't so sure now. In fact, he kind of hoped that she didn't. How could a passport forger that worked for The Organization be so kindhearted as to volunteer at an orphanage?

But, when he looked carefully at her hands...he realized she was still wearing gloves! She had removed the pair from earlier, but because she was serving food, she was wearing rubber gloves for hygiene.

Sasquatch sighed. How much longer would he have to follow this woman just to see her hands?